Monday, March 28, 2011

Here's another entry to the genre that I've labelled the "Dark and nasty Hong Kong horror movies of the 80s". They're not all actually from the 1980s but they all have that vipe, that tone of dark HK horror movies. Hell, they're not all even from Hong Kong! I definitely think THE DEVIL and WITCH WITH FLYING HEAD belong in that category and they're actually from Taiwan.

The film in this post, LEWD LIZARD, is a very rare nasty Hong Kong horror movie from 1979, and let me warn you right away; if you couldn't stomach KILLER SNAKES because of the cruelty to animals then... there's a good chance you're not gonna like this one one bit either! I watched LEWD LIZARD a long time ago via a VHS dupe I got from a tape-trader and I didn't wanna re-watch that old crummy tape cos it looks like it's a fourth or fifth generation dupe. So when I began preparing for this new blog I looked around for a better copy and found... practically nothing!! LEWD LIZARD has proven to be thee most difficult HK horror film to track down. There's NOTHING out there. No old video tapes, no old video-cd's, no laserdiscs, not anything! Anywhere! All I found was two bootleggers who were selling bootlegs of it and from their description it seems it's a copy off the same old crappy VHS that they've got (same description of tape roll at the beginning of the film).

Anyway, I ordered a copy and, uh, I'm afraid this DVD-R bootleg looks about the same as my old video dupe did! But at least it has (crummy!) cover art. LMAO. Anyhooo, I'll post a handful of screen grabs here and then write up a review when I've re-watched it properly again. Screw the bad picture quality, I wanna watch this! xD xD xD

NOTE: Needless to say, if ANY of you out there has an original VHS and could/would do me a DVD-R copy I'd be VERY happy!!!

I know nothing about the Italian peplum film genre ... and I know quite a bit about it!! Huh???

Well, I've never really watched that many of the films (I think this is the third one I've watched in total!) but my old friend Henrik Larsen used to tell me lots about them and in the old days I would read all his reviews and articles about the genre in his magazine Obskuriøst. So I'm not gonna bother with a review of a film that belongs within a context I'm not familiar with. Instead I'll post a bucketful of screen grabs and let you decide if you think it's something you'd like to explore any further.

It's a bumpy road padded with big sweaty, half naked men and often grabbing each other. Apparently these films are favourite viewing in gay circles and you can certainly see why. However, you can't complain about the lack of gorgeous women in L'EROE DI BABILONIA as there were aplenty! But don't expect any nudity, this is from 1963 after all, but, hey, "less is more"! I don't know how well L'EROE DI BABILONIA holds up against the rest of the genre but I was well entertained.

As far as I remember Henrik once told me there are about 200 films within the peplum genre and it lasted from the mid-1950s thru to the early 60s. After that the audiences got bored with the whole thing and the Italian film makers discovered the westerns and invented the spaghetti western genre instead!

"Silence! I kill you!"

NB: The cast credits list is from German Wiki. Blame them if it's not correct!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Man, I wish I'd followed my mum's advise when she said maybe I should take up French (this was 30 yrs ago when I was spending most of my awaken hours reading translated French graphic novels)!! If I'd paid more attention to her suggestion I would have been able to read what seems to be an awesome book on HK's Category III films but as it is I'm left with staring at a cover into a closed world (and a bump on my head from having kicked myself repeatedly!). It's available from Amazon France. Go here.

I found a page on a French HK film site, HKmania blog, which describes the contents in detail so I'll re-post it here translated into English but MIND YOU this is a Google translation and the text in the book is obviously not written in feeble babelfish French, hahaha. If you read French you can skip the Google text and read the original text at the bottom. The original page is here.

From HKmania blog:

After long years of waiting for the Holy Grail has finally arrived in our bookstores preferred. Category III - Sex, blood and politics in Hong Kong Julien Sévéon, most journalists mad, dissects the phenomenon in depth with impressive thoroughness and relevance rare. For the uneducated, class III is the classification from 1988 prohibiting certain films to minors under 18 years. If the original classification allowed to set limits in terms of political correctness, violence and sex on the screen during the 90s, turned into category III genre in itself.

The book of 336 pages (A4) proposed by the excellent editor bazaar & Co is simply beautiful and beautifully illustrated posters and photographs of the films concerned. In summary therefore, you will find:

As the day has gone and the heat has comeHeadbanger's war tonightScreaming metal unleashed for the battleMakes them feel alrightSweat and beer, devilish cheerGlaring flashlightsChains and leather will live foreverThe band begins its fight

We are right praying metal tonightThe message from hell and its spellEven Satan wears leather, our souls to it foreverSo let us pray our rules tonightChains and LeatherChains and LeatherChains and Leather and rivetsChains and LeatherChains and LeatherChains and Leather forever

All hell breaks loose and you have to chooseIf you stay or goHeaps are banging, chains are glangingFrom the first to the last rowPraying their rules, having their boozeThunder and aggressionStunning the crowd, devilish loudOur possession

We are right praying metal tonightThe message from hell and its spellEven Satan wears leather, our souls to it foreverSo let us pray our rules tonightChains and LeatherChains and LeatherChains and Leather and rivetsChains and LeatherChains and LeatherChains and Leather forever

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

This must undoubtedly be one of the most rare Asian films and video tapes!

WITCH WITH FLYING HEAD isn't available ANYWHERE!!! There are no DVDs, no video-cd's, no laserdiscs, nothing but the faint memory of some very few long lost video releases. This is actually the only release that I'm aware of but a few years back I got some third hand hearsay info that there might have been a Vietnamese video release at some point. In any case, none of them had English subtitles I don't think and I'm not aware of any fan subbed versions.

And before you ask: No, I don't own this tape. I would sure love to! The scan comes courtesy of Jean-Claude Michel from Cinehound forum. And he doesn't own it either but was lucky to get a friend who owned it to make him a scan just before he himself sold it off again. Who knows where in the world this copy is now!? A while back I asked Pete Tombs of Mondo Macabro if this where a film they would consider for release and he said they'd love to but they couldn't find neither a print nor the copyright owners!!! O_O

So for now I'm certainly holding on to my dvd-r bootleg that looks like it was sourced from a 3'rd or 4'th generation video tape.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Unfortunately, it seems the cool video eStore HKFlix.com (located in Hawaii) has closed down! What a bummer!! This was one of the good places where you could find rare Asian films (not least because quite a few of their DVDs were from bootleg companies). Too bad, not to mention very odd! I logged in the other day and not a word of warning in regards to the closure.

They will certainly be missed. :(

EDIT: I've deleted "it seems" from the headline as it's now confirmed HKFlix has closed down.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Two adventurers find a mummy in a grave in Thailand. They open the mummy's head and take out the brain. One of them, Ben, brings it with him back to Hong Kong in a little wooden box. Once back home in HK Ben wants to use the brain to gain wealth. The brain has some kinda power and by using black magic Ben can get it to help him reach his goal. But as in so many other 'black magic' films from HK the main character is truly a bad egg, and Westerners often find it hard to deal with a film that doesn't have a good looking hero who at the end would score some equally good looking chick!

Well, as I said Ben uses the brain to become rich but as so often when you sell your soul to evil forces there is a price to pay: When Ben has got his wealth he must return the brain to where he took it. And as it is also often the case, our 'hero' doesn't wanna fulfil his part of the deal. And so heaps of weirdo stuff take place due to the brain being pissed off with Ben: Ben's family find dead dogs and monkeys 'round the house. While Ben is driving his car blood suddenly gushes down the front window. The evil brain changes to a bigger size and hides in the fridge!

There is also some amazing wild and gory scenes containing quite a bit of the old gooey red stuff: Ben chucks up pieces of brain, the pieces collect themselves into a full brain and then tries to escape a good magician who tries to zap the brain with, like, a zapping spell! Ben is also attacked by the brain that then opens his head so that his own brain is spurting out everywhere and down his face like gooey porridge! And heaps of other wild stuff happen!

The flick is directed by Lo Lieh, who also acted in the BLACK MAGIC films, and also in HUMAN SKIN LANTERNS. The style of BLACK MAGIC WITH BUDDHA is smiilar to that of BLACK MAGIC 2 (and probably also BM 1 and HUMAM... but I haven't watched those, unfortunately!) and THE RAPE AFTER.

These are movies with black magic and gross-out stuff that you don't find in any Western films; there is an almost nasty feeling that follows you thru the whole movie! All these films are highly recommendable! They also steer away from the hopping vampire/ghost movies in that they are played straight. There is none of the otherwise well-known HK slapstick humour. The only funny scene in BMWH is entirely due to the version I watched wasn't shown in its letterboxed original format but had been changed to the tv format, which meant that in one scene you see a knee sitting at a table talking to a hand on the other side!

The subtitles were, well, lets just say they were a bit hard to read, with words missing at the beginning and at the end of lines, odd grammar and ehh unusual spelling. But on the other hand, this here is a Danish fanzine and who be am I to slag other pepples off for doingg inkorrect inglish! But anyway, when a film is as good as this who gives a fuck!

Version reviewed: Hong Kong release in Cantonese with Chinese and Englisjh subs.

First printed in #1 of my zine BANNED IN BRITAIN in 1994.

Brian at Cool Ass Cinema blog also just reviewed the film and the poster scan in this post is borrowed from his review (and he got it from Hong Kong Movie Data Base, LOL). The VHS cover scan is from Lars Jacobsson.

The other day I mentioned a blog in Italy that heralds me as a true Cyberspace hero (and rightfully so I might add) and it seems more people are beginning to see what a gift I am to the human race compare to most of you rakkerpak. Check out this new video from Australia! Awesome!!!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Argh, please kick me in the head the next time you see me! I deserve it. My gawd, I put off buying this DVD because of rumours that it was a terrible print and cut too.

I learnt about the DVD when it came out bloody two years ago and I've left it sitting on the shelf at DDDHouse until now. And now I discover it's most likely fully uncut and altho not a perfect print then at least better than the two FS video tapes I've got!! Argh!!

CHINA WHITE was directed by Ronny Yu in 1989 and shot on location in Chinatown in Amsterdam. The film was made in two versions; Ronny Yu's director's cut (i.e. the international version) plus a version for the HK home-market which contains an extra flashback scene. The film was shot in a mix of English (mostly) and Cantonese (and a little bit of Thai). The HK version was then dubbed into Cantonese (in the scenes where Chinese characters speak English to each other in the international version) and a fairly long flashback scene was added. To watch the film in Cantonese is NOT an advantage as the dub is pretty crappy and out of sync! Russell Wong, Andy Lau, Billy Drago, Shing Fui-On are in the movie plus a bunch more and lots of Gwilos.

The HK DVD looks fully uncut to me but I haven't compared the many violent scenes with the international version. There are many shoot-outs (it was made in the heyday of the heroic bloodshed genre) and there's also a beheading.

Unfortunately, the director's cut has never been released on DVD, only on VHS. I have two video versions from the UK and Denmark. Another rumour is that the UK tape is cut in a "Naked girl gets shot in the chest and you see her blood soaking boobs" scene. Well, more baloney! I compared the scene with the Danish and UK tapes and all three versions contain the exact same version.

This is the brief scene that's supposed to be cut out of the UK VHS. I've just checked the BBFC site and sure enough they say they've cut out 3 seconds of the film. I've timed that sequence and it runs exactly 3 seconds! Very strange. And it is definitely the same video release from the same label and with the same copyright year info (1991)!!! So what happened? Did the BBFC order the 3 seconds out of the film (I'm told it's the "blood on naked boobs" that doesn't go down well at the BBFC headquarters) after which the video label kinda just said "Arr bugger it, we'll just leave it in there, they'll never know!". Or was it a mistake? Did the entire batch of tapes get released uncut or was it only some of them? Maybe we'll never know. Uhhhhh (said in scary voice). xD

The tapes are FS and too dark. The DVD is letterboxed, has a better, brighter picture with much more info on the left. HOWEVER, some picture info at the bottom has been cut off. Someone on ADG suggested it was because the video label (Kam & Ronson) were covering up burnt-in subtitles. I don't know if this is correct. Obviously this is annoying but the missing picture info is very little and it would be daft not to check out this entertaining film just because of that. And even with the bottom missing it's still a way better print than the two video versions (but of course it presents a different edit of the film so you'll still need a VHS for the director's cut).

I've seen the film a handful of times thru out the years (I bought the UK tape as far back as sometime in the early 90s!) and it's definitely recommended viewing (and the DVD is mega cheap from DDDHouse).

The screen grabs are from ADG and thanks goes out to the two uploaders!

Friday, March 18, 2011

After a little delay the new issue of our memorabilia magazine is now available and there are good news for overseas readers: the German postal service has changed it's prices and (we couldn't believe our eyes since the usually only raise the prices) overseas shipping has become much cheaper. 1-3 issues now only cost 4.85 US$ and 4-6 cost only 9.80 US$ to ship. Before this the shipping costs were almost twice as much.

Recognition is nice! xD Being called a "true hero" by a blog in Italy that I've never even heard of is even nicer!! In fact it's totally multo bene!! I've just discovered that EVIL MONKEY blog wrote a piece about my other blog When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines and said that I'm the greatest gift to women everywhere and that you people should all worship me (or something to that effect).

The blog is in Italian and since most of my Italian is mob speak that I picked up from watching the Sopranos I'm afraid we'll have to rely on a translation by our good friends at Google Translate. If your own Italian is better you can read the original text here. Un grande grazie goes out to whoever does Evil Monkey! Much appreciated! xD.

Jack Jensen, the Philippines and the heroes of the Web 2.0

While most of the managers of the blog can not help but take advantage of every sad & trite trick to attract some new readers there are those who makes a boast of the niche. Can you think of something more sector of the Philippine war-movie (with some transfer to the ninja-movie ever Filipino)? I doubt it. And when was the last time you read a disclaimer like the one below?

WHERE TO DOWNLOAD THESE MOVIES???Some readers write and ask were they can download the films on this blog. I'm afraid I can't help you. Most of these films are old video tapes that I've spent months (and sometimes years) on tracking down. I'm simply not interested in downloading movies. I want to own real releases. On a rare occasion I might swap a dvd-r with someone (or nice readers send me dvd-r's for free) but I don't download and I don't know where you can do that. Sorry.

Jack Jensen is a true hero. Research and dissemination passionate (very useful update on its auction eBay ), but above the sole manager of which is the pearl of 2.0 When the Vietnam War raged ... in the Philippines . Because if you download the latest remake U.S. are capable of all, I want to see how many are able to trace the Greek VHS Cobra Thunderbolt .

Thursday, March 17, 2011

This is insane!! Last night I wanted to watch the Screamin' Jay Hawkins video from YouTube which I've posted here before but found out the "good" people at Sony (or rather *phony* as in phoney music lovers!) have now censored it because I obviously live in the wrong damn country. And tonight I wanted to re-watch the Cardigans' version of that ol'e Kraftwerk song "Das Modell" only to discover THAT ONE has also been cut off now. In other words, altho I live in bloody Scandinavia I'm no longer allowed to watch this video by a Scandinavian band!! Thank fuck for the nice people of Taiwan (i.e. the upload in this post!). I spit in the face of these dickhead money greedy companies!

Monday, March 14, 2011

I watched ISLAND WARRIORS last night and what can I say but, woah!! It's a fun movie about an island of men-hating women who fight pirates!! I really should do a review but until I (maybe) do that you can read TarTarkas' cool review here. The screen grabs are from my Greek VHS. There is a DVD release in the US with the crappiest cover I ever saw. Apparently the picture quality isn't any better than the Greek video tape which, if nothing else, has RAD cover art!!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

My gawd! I've finally got hold of the Danish rental release of Buddy Giovinazzo's COMBAT SHOCK (aka American Nightmares)!! Gott im himmel!!! Trust me when I say I've been wanting this one for a looong time! I rented the tape somewhere between 1991 and '94 and at the time I thought it was amazing that this piece of cynical and pessimistic celluloid had been released here. And needless to say I wanted a copy of the tape (I mean a *real* copy cos OBVIOUSLY I made a VHS dupe at the time, LOL). Anyhoo, two days ago I finally received a copy of the tape. Whoo-hoo!

PS: This scan isn't of my new tape but posted on DEVAG on FB by Diabolik of Cinehound forum.

Monday, March 7, 2011

The buzz among fans of American psychotronic movies the past few months is that SHOUT! Factory in the US have scheduled to release about 16,000 tons of old Roger Corman movies! Needless to say this is a BIG deal! Many of these films have never been released on DVD before and the ones that have actually been granted a release on one of those shiny wee discs are often in less than brilliant quality - to say the least.

The very reason I'm brining up these new SHOUT! releases is the simple reason that Roger Corman co-produced quite a few Filipino films ... and SHOUT! are releasing a handful of these! A BIG handful I might add!! In Double and triple sets!!!

Their first double set contains UP FROM THE DEPTHS (directed by Charles Griffith, produced by Cirio H. Santiago, 1979) and DEMON OF PARADISE (produced and directed by Santiago, 1987). Word on the street is they're crappy beyond belief but I don't give a fuck about what the grapevine says, I've already bought the DVD and I'll make up my own mind about them thank you very much (once a punk always a punk, ay).

I haven't watched either of the two films yet (I got the disc on Saturday) but I've checked the quality of the prints and the extras, and these restored prints look juust amazing! And also, and this is very exiting... the disc contains a rare trailer for the Santiago directed FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist) which I wrote a little bit about the other day in connection with ANGELFIST (also by Santiago, and both films are remakes of TNT JACKSON - which, incidentally, is also directed by Santiago and will ALSO get a release from SHOUT!). There's no official release date yet.

And further more... in June SHOUT! are releasing a "Women in Cages" triple bill containing THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971), THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972) and WOMEN IN CAGES (1971) which all (and I'm sure it's pointless to mention this as I'm sure you all know this already) star the queen of the blaxploitation flicks, the BABETIOUS (which probably isn't even a real word but that's what she is!) Pam Grier!

I'm fully aware these films have been released on DVD before (I can't comment on their picture quality as I don't have any of them; I still watch them on video tape) but this release should blow them all outta the water!

On DVDmaniacs message board SHOUT! spokesman Cliff Mac said about the set in January: "WOMEN IN CAGES COLLECTION includes BIG DOLL HOUSE, BIG BIRD CAGE and, of course, WOMEN IN CAGES. All three films have been re-transferred and look amazing."

By the way, SHOUT! will also be releasing ARENA (also starring Pam Grier) at a later stage but I reckon it's not in this set as it's a co-production with Italy and not the Philppines.

As I mentioned earlier FIRECRACKER is also slated for release and so are SAVAGE! (1973), TNT JACKSON (1974), FLY ME (1973), and TOO HOT TO HANDLE (1977).

Cliff Mac said this about FIRECRACKER on Dvdmaniacs last month: "I just watched our new transfer of FIRECRACKER.... WOW... it looks beautiful....".

There's no release date set for the last four films either but I'm certainly looking forward to them in a BIIIG way! FIRECRACKER and TNT JACKSON on restored DVD!!! O_OAlmost too UNREAL to be true!!! I'm certainly crossing my fingers we don't run into another bloody recession until AFTER we've seen these cool flicks on the street.

About a year ago, I posted a different recording of the Sort Sol/Sods live clip seen in the above YouTube video. The video I posted back then is off my own Betamax tape which I taped when the concert was broadcast back in '87. And I must have played that tape at least 300 times over the years - and unfortunately that shows!! My tape is WORN!!!!! However, I've just discovered that someone else taped the same live show and uploaded it about a month ago ... and the picture quality is heaps better!!!

My comments from the original posting:

SORT SOL (aka SODS)Three tracks live (DR TV, Denmark, 1987)

1) Blood on the Saddle 2) Searching Down the Block3) Pinocchio Loose (aka Pinocchio on the Loose) [the track list in the headline to the new upload is incorrect! "Fire Engine" is not played!!]

This is SORT SOL at their best! In 1987 Danish state tv ran a series of music shows entitled "Musicbox" and to me this was definitely the highlight of the series.

SORT SOL started out in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1978 as a full-on punk band under the name of SODS. Their debut LP "Minutes to go" is a mile stone in Danish punk music but soon after the release they got bored with the three cord limitations that punk music offered and on their second LP "Under en sort sol" they had moved in a more avantgarde'ish direction.

Their third LP "Dagger & Guitar" is the first one where they use the name SORT SOL but what many new fans don't realise is the band actually used both names for years to come. And if you were a "real" fan you kept calling them SODS. "Sort Sol" was for wanna-be fans, haha. I don't think I started using the Sort Sol moniker till 1990 or something. LOL.

On "Dagger & Guitar" SORT SOL recorded two tracks with LYDIA LUNCH. If you do a YouTube search you'll find their "Boy/Girl" track that features miss Lunch. It's uploaded by someone else in Canada (G'day mate, whoever you are) but (via other traders) the clip comes from a recording I did in 1984 when television in Denmark broadcast a documentary about the band called "OMKRING EN SORT SOL - et portraet af SODS".

There was a pretty big gap between the third and fourth LP and when "Everything that rises must converge" finally came out in 1987 their sound had become the violent music you'll hear on this live recording. Like I said this is the band at their best in my opinion. Later records never quite reached the intensity and violent rawness as on "Everything".

The original title of the LP was actually going to be "The Violent Bear it Away" but they change it before it was released. The CD version of the album, which wasn't released till many years later, contains a bonus disc for which they used the title.

It seems AWE are going to retitle THE LIVING CORPSE to Dracula in Pakistan, probably in order to make it sound more exotic - which is fine by me. Hell, they can call it "Pakistani-Dracula is a horny old geezer" for all I care. The main thing is they're putting this important and highly entertaining early Lollywood horror film on DVD.

Did I hear you say "important"? Why yes you did! ZINDA LAASH/The Living Corpse/Dracula in Pakistan is important as it's the first movie from Pakistan to ever receive an X rating! The movie was even banned when it was originally released! And then it was almost lost for good. The print that survived was literally found by Omar Khan on top of a trash can in an flooded basement!!! Mondo Macabro and The Hot Spot (Omar Khan and his brother's company) restored the print and it was released on DVD from Mondo Macabro in 2003. I certainly hope AWE enclose Omar Khan & Pete Tomb's commentary track!

HELL'S GROUND, the second film on AWE's upcoming DVD, was actually directed by Omar Khan! It's from 2007 and it's a Pakistani zombie movie! Yay!! Mondo Macabro co-produced it but didn't release it, it's out on Danger After Dark in the US. THE LIVING CORPSE/HELL'S GROUND DVD is also scheduled for release by Njuta Films in Sweden.

I must admit I'm slightly baffled as to why THE LIVING CORPSE is the bonus film on the disc... o_O ...as it is the better film of the two! I recommend that you read Omar Khan's review of THE LIVING CORPSE on his The Hot Spot review site. By the way, if you have any interest in Bollywood or Lollywood* films The Hot Spot is an awesome site for info! *Lollywood is the Pakistani equivalent of Bollywood.

HELL'S GROUND is indeed a fun movie, and it's interesting (and cool) because of its origin (i.e. being Pakistani) but THE LIVING CORPSE is head and shoulders better; Its allure goes way beyond being interesting just for the sake of its unusual background. It is a very good adaptation of the Dracula story on its own terms and I highly recommend it! Trust me, I'm a professional and I know what I'm talking bout. Now, smell my finger.

In the 1960's, even Pakistan was swinging!To prove it, here's this amazing version of the Dracula story from 1967. So hot it was banned on its original release.The only Pakistani film ever to be rated "X" in its country of origin, this sizzling little gem is also the first Dracula film to include the shocking "baby stealing" scene.This first ever official video release, taken from the only surviving negative, includes a host of exclusive extras.

Zinda Laash - The Living Corpse - is a film so rare that even the most exhaustive studies of vampire films don't mention it. Although the film caused a sensation on its release back in the 1960's, it was banned and all but forgotten...until now!

An absolutely essential purchase for vampire film afficionados...for horror film fans...and for anyone who likes their horror hot and spicy.A LOST VAMPIRE CLASSIC AND A LANDMARK IN ASIAN HORROR MOVIES

Arghhh! For fuck's sake! I've been home all day cos I've been expecting a parcel from some stupid courier company. They said they'd be here between 8 AM and 4 PM and they never showed up. So I ring them and they go: "Our driver was there at 1 o'clock!" Whaaat!! I've been home all day and now I'm not even getting my parcel!! I live in a tiny flat with a loud door bell and NO backyard. There's no fucken way in Hell I wouldn't have heard the door bell!!! I'm pretty sure it's my tapes from a collector in Holland. The stupid fucks won't even deliver it again so either I pay tons of money and go all the way to fucking Copenhagen to pick it up or they return the parcel. Shit, fuck, cunt!!! The douchebag driver probably rang the wrong fucken door (I live on the third floor). Where is my gun, where is my roof!!! .\_/.

I like black too, I listen to old The Cure records, I watch old Bela Lugosi movies, and I like hanging out in dark corners... but if I see one more blog that has white on black I'm gonna start shooting random people from my roof top!!! Please! NO MORE BLACK BLOGS!!!

Usually all text here is by me, myself and glorious I but this post is by my friend Fred Anderson. This is immensely exciting!!! Fred has just launched a new video label for Asian worldweird films!!! I wish him the best of luck! We need more Onars and more Mondo Macabros!!!

I’m kinda late here in the biz, just when everything is dying and we’re leaving DVD to VOD and similar stuff. But you know, I had to do it. I had to at least once try it, mostly because I want to see some of my favorite obscure movies on non-bootleg DVDs.

So let me introduce to you, ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT. And it’s possible to write with small letters too ;)

What I miss on the DVD-market is weird Asian movies, odd exploitation from Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and so on. We’re not talking the normal martial arts flicks, we’re talking trashier stuff, wilder stuff. Mondo Macabro, one of the best companies in the biz, has released some amazing Asian stuff – but I don’t even want to compare myself with them. I’m in a much more primitive league.

I bought the rights to two movies, and those two might be the only titles I release… we’ll see what happen. Here they are…

The Killer Elephants (Thailand, 1976)One of my favorites, this ultra-cheap and ultra-entertaining action movie with superstar-hunk Sombat Metanee will blow your mind when it comes to trashy action. The concept with the movie is that one of the gangs has trained killer-elephants who stomps, crushes and causes havoc to the poor suckers that meet them! You can read my review here. The knocked-out-by-elephant-dick-scene is a classic ;)

Thunder of Gigantic Serpent (Taiwan/Hong Kong,1988)Yes, Joseph Lao’s cut & paste classic finally out on DVD! For this movie Joseph Lai and Godfrey Ho used footage from a Taiwanese monstermovie, King of Snake, and edited it together with new footage with legendary Pierre Kirby. No Ninjas, but a lot of monster action (Moslar!!!), a terrible cute kid and not always fitting-footage with western actors running around. What’s there not to love?

These versions where prepared for the international video market in the Eighties, so they are in fullscreen and with English dubbing. I’m using digibeta masters directly from Joseph Lai. For The Killer Elephants I MIGHT also include a widescreen version, sourced from a German VHS tape. Because of the cost I will make these on DVD-R, professionally manufactured in a factory. You won’t see any difference from a normal DVD. I will try to include some extras, but more on that later.

I bought the rights for Scandinavia, so the plan is to have at least Swedish subtitles. I’m sure there won’t be any problems for you outside Scandinavia to buy them from some store that ships internationally. I'm just a small business, nothing big and fancy, doing this to be able to see my favorite movies out on disc.

Yeah, that’s it. Check back for more info about release dates, new homepage, coverart, specs and of course screenshots.

Please spread the word about Attackafant Entertaiment and I would be very happy :)

Directors who remake their own films is not an unknown phenomenon and in 1981 Cirio H. Santiago remade his own film TNT JACKSON from 1974; The remake is called FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist), however, what is quite a bit of a novelty is that Santiago even remade the film again!!! I guess he liked the plot, ay. The third time was in 1992 and this time he called it ANGELFIST. All three films follow the same plot about a kick-ass girl who goes to the Philippines to seek revenge for the death of her sister. I watched the first two films years ago (on VHS) and tonight I finally got the chance to see the third film. Being a Filipino exploitation flick means it's sure to deliver in the entertainment department. However, I can't say making the same film again and again made Santiago get better at choosing great actors for his roles, haha.

Mein gott, Cat Sassoon, the "actress" (and I use the term in the most loose term possibly) who plays the lead character in ANGELFIST, is by far one of the worst actresses I've ever seen! I kid you not when I say it's 90 minutes of "what the fuck was Cirio thinking!!!" She can't act, she can't fight (altho the film claims she was a karate champion - yeah, probably in Bizarro World), and her tits and lips look as fake as any Barbie doll's you'll find at Toys R Us! Man, those tits look so stiff and pointy it's probably a good thing no one landed on them headfirst as I'm sure they could have punctured some poor sap's eyes!!! I'm not even kidding.

The guy who plays her love interest is well cast as he's every bit as crappy an actor as she is. I'm laughing my ass off here thinking about it! Having said that, I should point out many of their co-stars are actually pretty good, and we find good ol'e Filipino regular Henry Strzalkowski as a crooked cop. ANGELFIST is definitely entertaining but it's just not anywhere nearly as good as TNT JACKSON and FIRECRACKER.

PS: And in case you're wondering: Yes, Santiago also repeated the "main character gets attacked by bad guys in her hotel room while she's naked and kicks their ass (still while being naked)! LOL.

THE DVD:The copy of ANGELFIST that I've just bought is a reg. 1 DVD. It's presented in the fullscreen format. The picture is pretty good not least when you consider that most of the Filipino films we can get our mitts on are old wobbly video releases. The only extras is a trailer and some short biographies + a couple trailers for other films. There are no subtitles.

It's ironic that out of the three versions that Santiago made this is the only of the films that has so far received a proper DVD release. Fortunately, Shout Factory have announced that they'll be releasing a bunch of Filipino films this year and two of them are TNT JACKSON and FIRECRACKER!

Henry Strzalkowski (on the right) with Darwyn Swalve (who was also in HANDS OF STEEL which has just been released by AWE/Njuta Films) roughing up Nick Nicholson in DEATH BOND (1988).

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I wrote about the Shaw Brothers film KILLERS ON WHEELS when it was made available as a VOD only release in France. That release is a beautiful uncut and restored print but being French it only carries French subs. Now there's finally an English subbed version from the fans at FuSubs. They're not money greedy bootleggers but fans and their DVDs are cheap. Click the cool cover for full size.

About Me

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The blog title is my original 'Greek' language title for this blog. I tried with a couple of English titles but they read flabby so I decided to keep the original title even though most of you won't understand it. But, hey, it'll add an exotic spice to it! English translated titles could have been: Reflections of a Hitman, Diary of a Hitman, A Hitman Looks Back, or Memoirs of a Hitman.